Taxonomic notes on the tribe Acridini Latreille (Acridinae: Acrididae: Orthoptera) of Kashmir, India
M. NAYYAR AZIM and Shabir A. RESHI
Section of Entomology, P.G. Department of Zoology, University of Kashmir, Srinagar–190006 (J & K), INDIA. E–mail: mnayyarazim@yahoo.com
Recibido: 11/05/2009
Aceptado: 18/09/2009
ABSTRACT
The tribe Acridini Latreille is redefined. Keys to subtribes and species where necessary are given. The genera and species are redefined along with the list of synonymies.
Tribe Acridini Latreille
Diagnosis: Body usually slender; pronotum usually with median and lateral carinae; tegmina and wings fully developed; spurious median vein of tegmina usually absent; prosternal process usually absent; femoro–tegminal stridulatory mechanism absent; hind femur without row of modified peg like structures at lower edge of inner surface; male with epiphallus bridge shaped having ancorae and lophi, aedeagus with basal apical valves connected by flexure. Members falling under two subtribes of Acridini are found in Kashmir.
Genus Acrida Linnaeus.
Gryllus (Acrida) Linnaeus, 1758. Syst. Nat. (10th ed.), 1: 427.
Type–species: Gryllus (Acrida) turritus Linnaeus
The genus can easily be distinguished in having elongated stick–like body and conical head.
The genus is represented by three species in Kashmir.
Acrida gigantea (Herbst)
Truxalis giganteus Herbst, 1794. Fuessfy Archiv., 173.
Acrida gigantea Kirby, 1910. Syn. Cat. Orth. 3(2):93.
The characters of the species are same as described by Kirby (1914) except color which is brownish.
Material examined: 3
, 5
, Kashmir, Baramulla, Uri, Chandanwari on Maize, 9.ix.2006 (Shabir A. Reshi).
Acrida exaltata (Walker) ]]>
Truxalis exaltata Walker, 1859. Ann. mag. nat. Hist., 4(3):222.
Truxalis brevicollis Bolivar, 1893. Feuille Jeunes nat., 27(8): 162.
Acrida lugubris Burr.,1902. Trans. R. ent. Soc. Lond., 2:170.
Acrida curta Uvarov, 1936. Linn. Journ. Zool., 39:536.
The characters are same as described by Kirby (1914). The genitalic characters are as follows: Male subgenital plate long and pointed; female subgenital plate with posterior margin setose, dorsal valve of ovipositor shorter than lateral apodeme, spermatheca with apical diverticulum well developed, pre–apical diverticulum sac like.
Material examined: 4, 7, Kashmir, Kupwara, Karnah, Gundi Gujran on grass, 6.ix.2005 (Shabir A. Reshi); 11, 7, Srinagar, Dachigam National Park on grass, 21.ix.2005 (Shabir A. Reshi); 11, 9, Baramulla, Uri, Chandanwari on maize, 9.ix. 2006 (Shabir A. Reshi).
Acrida lugubris Burr. (Junior synonymy of Acrida exaltata (Walker, 1859)
Acrida ligubris Burr., 1902. Trans. ent. soc. Lond., 157, 170.
It is a junior synonymy of Acrida exaltata Walker. However Kirby (1914) and Sharma & Gupta (1997) did not treat this as a synonymy of A. exaltata.
The species was recorded from Kashmir by Kirby (1914) and Sharma and Gupta (1997) recently recorded it from Jammu region of the state. However, the present authors could not collect any specimen of the species.
]]> Genus Phlaeoba StalThe genus can be distinguished on the basis of the following characters: Smaller insects; head short; antennae shorter as long as or longer than the combined length of head and pronotum together, basal half widened and flattened; fastigium of vertex short, slightly projecting forward, widely angular, wider than long with distinct median carinula; fastigial foveolae absent; frontal ridge shallowly sulcate from base of antennae; pronotum with posterior margin rounded, median and lateral carinae distinct, lateral carinae parallel, median carina intersected by posterior transverse sulcus only, metazona shorter than prozona; tegmina and wings fully developed, as long as or longer than abdomen or lobiform; hind femur as long as or slightly exceeding tip of abdomen; arolium large; male with supra–anal plate angular, cerci short, conical, subgenital plate short, subconical with obtuse apex, epiphallus bridge shaped, ancorae short, lophi bilobate; female with ovipositor valves long and slightly curved.
The genus is represented by a single species in Kashmir.
Phlaeoba tenebrosa (Walker)
Opomala tenebrosa Walker, 1871. Cat. Derm. Salt. Brit. Mus. Lond.,5:53.
Phlaeoba tenebrosa (Walker), Uvarov, 1924. J. Asiatic Soc. Bengal, 20:318.
The species was recorded from Kashmir by Bei–Bienko and Mishchenko (1951). The present authors could not collect any specimen of the species from the region.
]]>ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
The authors are greatly indebted to Prof. Ghulam Mustafa Shah, Head, P. G. Department of Zoology, University of Kashmir, Srinagar, for providing research facilities. One of us SAR is thankful to the state government authorities for granting permission to visit the disturbed and restricted areas of the state for the collection of grasshoppers.
LITERATURE CITED
Bei–Bienko, G. Y. & Mishchenko, L. L. 1951. Locusts and grasshoppers of USSR and adjacent countries. Vols.1–2. Israel Program for scientific translations. Jerusalem. 691pp. [ Links ]
Kirby, W. F. 1914. The fauna of British India including Ceylon and Burma Orthoptera (Acrididae). Today & Tomorrow's Printers & Publishers, New Delhi. 276pp. [ Links ]
Sharma, B. & Gupta, N. 1997. Identification key to the short horned grasshoppers (Othoptera:Acrididae) from sub–Shivalik plains of Jammu. Journal of Insect Science, 10(1):5–7. [ Links ] ]]>